Despite the ideal of a paperless environment that the popularization of computers had promised, paper continues to dominate the office landscape. Ironically, the computer itself has been a major contributing source of paper proliferation. The computer simplifies the task of document composition, and thus has enabled even greater numbers of publishers. The computer promotes individual expression through the use of graphics tools, image capture devices, image enhancement tools, and so on, in addition to traditional text editing. Oftentimes, documents must be shared among colleagues, thus generating even more paper.
Despite advances in technology, suitable personal output devices as a practical substitute for paper remain to be developed. Personal data assistants (PDAs such as the Treo® by palmOne, Inc., and similar hand held devices) typically do not have the storage capacity, the processing capacity, the display capacity, or the connectivity to effectively present documents to the user in a convenient and useful manner. Unlike paper, devices such as PDAs are not universal. While many document formats exist for representing information, not all devices have all the software needed to read all documents. Worse yet, PDA documents typically use formats that are not readily available on a desktop or laptop PC. Usually, documents have to be converted between formats. Thus, paper remains the simplest way in many situations for storing information (e.g., record keeping), distributing information, and controlling access to information.
Paper has been an integral component of civilization for thousands of years. Its replacement is not likely to occur soon, if ever, despite the ubiquity of computer-based technology. Electronic information almost invariably is reduced, at least in part, to paper. Perhaps then, the role of the computer is not to achieve a paperless society. Instead, the role of the computer may be as a tool to move effortlessly between paper and electronic media with which it was created. Generally, there is a need to use computers to more effectively share information and to provide access to that information. In addition, the information should not be limited to any particular mode of expression, allowing for all forms of communication media.
A cover sheet, as used in a Collection Managersystem of Ricoh Innovations, Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., is typically a paper document that provides access to and management of a collection of arbitrary media files. Each cover sheet typically contains a machine-readable identifier for the collection as well as a graphic or image representing the contents of the collection. When a modification occurs to the collection, the graphic that appears on the cover sheet must be changed. However, to reflect those changes, a new paper cover sheet must be printed.
Many office tasks require collections of documents to be processed as part of the office workflow. Stamping documents as part of an office workflow has been performed for years. Office workers often have a collection of rubber stamps in their desk. These office workers are comfortable with marking a paper document to indicate that the paper document has been processed in some way or that the paper document has some special significance. For example, an “URGENT” stamp on a piece of paper may indicate that it should be addressed immediately, while a “PAID” stamp on an invoice may indicate that a check has been cut and the invoice can be filed.
MFP collections are often used to store documents related to transactions like purchase requests and expense reports. It would be desirable to be able to “stamp” them in the same way that paper documents are stamped in order to visually communicate that the collection is in a specific state.